Good Versus Evil
by peroxidepest17
Summary: Champions are chosen, age old arguments/dissatisfactions are pounded out. Just not how you’d think.


Title: Good Versus Evil  
Author: Celeste  
Rating: PG  
Spoilers: Pretty much everything.  
Summary: Champions are chosen, age old arguments/dissatisfactions are pounded out. Just not how you'd think.  
Disclaimer: All Buffy and Angelverse characters mentioned aren't mine. I'm just having fun.   
Dedication: To Everyone at LA, may they forgive me.  
Feedback: (yes) keviesprincess@netscape.net  
Author's Notes: I was bored, and I wondered how a lot of things got decided in the great beyond. Sue me. Or not, I don't really have anything you'd want, I guarantee. Unless the leftover orange cream and coconut chocolates from the box are appealing to you. Yuck.   
  
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"Order! Order! This meeting is now in session!!" The Balance Keeper hammered his mallet firmly against the marble desk in front of him, eyes sparking from one side to the other of the vast meeting chamber. The chatter failed to die even a fragment at his command and with a weary sigh he leaned back into his chair. "I will not hesitate to disperse this meeting and rule of my own volition if either side will not cooperate with the sanctity of the debate!" he announced, softer this time, but heard nonetheless.   
  
  
The denizens of Good and Evil quieted, ceasing the arguments and thinly veiled threats they had been volleying towards one another back and forth across the senate chamber, and sat to face the Keeper. He nodded in satisfaction. "Thank you." Turning to his aide, he extended a hand. "The case?"  
  
  
Another neutral being stepped forward, respectfully displaying a thin, rather plain looking manila folder to his superior before scurrying back to his place at the side of chambers. The Keeper flipped it over and scanned it quickly, reading the case file in seconds. "I see. We convene today to debate the merits of a complaint formally filed by Evil. They feel as if the scales have been tipped against them."  
  
  
There was a murmur of protest from the side of Good, but a harsh look from the Keeper quieted the irate representatives instantly. He closed the folder and set it before him on the magnificent marble desk. "Evil, you've chosen a spokesperson to argue these accusations I wager?"   
  
  
A cloud of black smoke exploded at the base of the Keeper's high seat and swirled, before clearing to reveal Evil's chosen champion for the debate. He appeared human, a head of neatly slicked beige-brown hair with eyes that gleamed cunning in their wild vermilion depths. The speaker flashed them and they turned a neutral hazel, and he adjusted the tie of his fabulous charcoal suit. He smiled, or smirked, no one could really tell the difference in an advocate for the side of Evil. "Here, Your Honor," he announced in a voice as smooth as his appearance.   
  
  
The Keeper sighed inwardly, having seen this particular entity chosen many a time to speak on the behalf of Evil. He was irritating, and disgustingly good at his job. And he was obnoxious and arrogant because he knew exactly HOW good he was at his job. However, on the outside, the Keeper simply nodded a greeting, as protocol demanded. "Belial," he acknowledged, before turning to the other side of the vast chamber. "Does Good wish to debate Evil's claims, or does it chose to concede the argument?"   
  
  
As expected, a flash of white and sparkle instantly flared on the opposite side of the base of Keeper's desk, and he looked down as the tiny, brilliant lights winked away by their own volition. In the center of it all stood what could be assumed as Good's debater, here to counterpoint Belial in hopes of disrupting Evil's case. He was dressed similarly to the representative of Evil, all business and professionalism in black, a gold tie shining bright in the eyes of the Keeper. His equally black wings folded unto themselves and seemingly disappeared from his very back, before he acknowledged first Belial, and then the Keeper with a greeting that consisted of a chaste nod and a spark of velvet brown eye. "Good chooses to argue the case filed by Evil, Your Honor," he stated without missing a beat.   
  
  
Evil had expected it, but hisses were heard from that side of the room nonetheless. The Keeper ignored the demons and creatures of that corner and looked at the chosen debaters. "Very well. We will first hear a case-by-case argument from Belial, and Seraph will feel free to cross-examine as he sees fit. I remind any of the spectators that inappropriate comments and interruptions will result in expulsion from the debate. If it happens one too many a time on either side, the case will be dismissed from public chambers and I will make a decision regarding Evil's grievances of my own accord."  
  
  
The meeting room was silent.  
  
  
The Keeper nodded. "Very well then. Belial, present your case."  
  
  
"Thank you, Your Honor." Belial turned around to face those gathered in chambers. "Over the course of the past half century Evil, whom I am representing in this most honored debate, has a matter of concern which we feel has been left to neglect long enough and must, for the sake of balance, be brought to the attention of chambers, this most ancient, and prestigious court of grievances." The demon debater paced a few steps forward, eyes going to both ends of the room. "It seems that Good, intentionally or not, has disrupted and turned some of Evil's best operatives without conceding any of their own. All Evil wishes for is either a return of those taken, or a voluntarily relinquishment of a few of Good's chosen."   
  
  
A murmur of disagreement rose up from the ranks of Good, and the Keeper banged his gavel. "Evil has the floor!" he chastised, his tone saying he would not warn again. The protests grew quiet, though an air of discontent swirled about the left side of the chamber. The argument chafed under the skin of Good's representatives, no doubt.   
  
  
Belial coughed and continued. "As the rules of the ancients dictate, balance must be kept to hold the planes of earth, under and over included, together. Evil argues that to retain the balance, and to keep to these most sacred rules of those before us, Good must concede."   
  
  
The Keeper turned to Seraph, Good's councilman. "Counterpoint?"  
  
  
"Your Honor, Good argues that no rules of the ancients were specifically broken in that those they accuse Good of having taken from the side Evil came over voluntarily."   
  
  
A grumble of dissatisfaction rippled through the right side of the room and the Keeper glared at Evil. "Silence. You have chosen your champions to debate, allow them to do so. You relinquished your rights to speak when you elected these representatives. I will not remind you again." He looked back to the aforementioned debaters. "Your cases?"  
  
  
Belial pulled a chart, seemingly out of thin air. A stand followed with a flick of his wrist, and he set the chart down. "Case One, Your Honor. The Vampire with a soul." As he announced this, the visage of Angel appeared on the chart in a puff of red and black smoke.  
  
  
"Angelus."  
  
  
The spokesperson for Evil nodded. "Vampires by definition are champions of Evil. He was the first Good took from us with no concessions on its part."   
  
  
"He was cursed with a soul," the Keeper stated, brow furrowed.   
  
  
"Yes. He was one of our most powerful warriors, who is now fighting for Good."  
  
  
"The Powers have condoned this," Seraph protested.   
  
  
"What the Powers do, I am to balance," the Keeper reminded. "Why was there no concession made after this warrior to turn to the light?"  
  
  
"There was," Seraph responded. "We gave them a Slayer." He waved a hand in the air and an image of Faith driving a knife into the chest of a man flashed before senate's eyes.   
  
  
"That was only two years ago," Belial argued. "Angelus was given his soul back many years before."  
  
  
"He was neutral," Seraph bounced back. "He lived in an alley feeding off of rats and other vermin. He was neither champion of good nor champion of evil at the time. No concession was made until he chose a side."  
  
  
"The Slayer is imprisoned," Belial debated smoothly. "She is therefore neutral as well. She cannot do anything for either side there."  
  
  
Seraph looked slightly troubled at this. "Nevertheless, the seed of Evil was planted within her. The rules specifically state that we must concede with implantation, but what the warriors chose to do is of their own volition. We cannot be held accountable for it."  
  
  
This time Evil's denizen looked slightly miffed at the argument. "The seed may have been planted, but it was not stronger than the good within her. Unfair in comparison to the size of good a soul in Angelus did in proportion to the evil within him."   
  
  
"The soul and the demon were of equal power. He chose which he would yield to. It falls under the jurisdiction of man's free will again, and the rules clearly state that we, the higher powers, cannot interfere there."  
  
  
The Keeper looked between the two when nothing more was said. "Case One?"  
  
  
Belial sighed. "Evil concedes Case One, Your Honor."  
  
  
Seraph looked pleased with himself.   
  
  
"Is there any more to this argument?" Keeper asked, after the concession had been made and the winner for Case One announced.   
  
  
"Case Two," the demon continued, having recovered from his loss remarkably fast. The picture of Angelus flashed and left in its place was that of Darla.  
  
  
"Darla."  
  
  
Belial nodded. "In a moment of compassion, she slew herself that her child may live. We determine this as unfair intervention by Good, resulting in the loss of one of our most useful tools so that one of innocence may survive."  
  
  
"She was killed before, and it was deemed fair," Seraph protested. "She was allowed to die and the Master was allowed to walk! Those were the terms of this very argument in the past!"  
  
  
"I'm inclined to agree, Belial. Make your case," the Keeper prodded.  
  
  
The demon looked unfazed. "That was the deal for the last time regarding this particular warrior, I agree. Darla was killed by Good and the Master was allowed to walk in return to restore balance. However short lived that may have been," he added without thinking.   
  
  
Keeper's eyes narrowed. "Stay on task, councilor, or I will force your faction to choose another to speak for them."  
  
  
"My apologies, Your Honor. As I was saying, Darla was resurrected to compensate the loss of Adam at the Slayer's hands. The times coincide, if you recall."  
  
  
"I do."  
  
  
"She was reincarnated human, as well."  
  
  
"Yes."  
  
  
"If you remember, the rules of the ancients, section four hundred, paragraph eighteen thousand, line forty, it states that rulings can only be repealed concerning a warrior on change of character as judged by the Keeper. In a past case, you ruled that a human and a vampire could not be classified as one in the same regardless of their origins and physical connection. I plead that ruling come into play for my argument. The ruling that she was to die so that the Master could walk regarded her past life as a vampire. She came back alive, which by your own ruling in the past, dictated that she was different, which constitutes as a change of character."  
  
  
"She was made into a vampire again."  
  
  
"Arranged by Wolfram and Hart, Your Honor. I put the ancients rule of non-intervention into use here. There was nothing we could do about it."  
  
  
"You make a good point, councilor."  
  
  
"Thank you, Your Honor. As I was saying, the past ruling cannot come into play here, and the new case, regardless of past information, is that she sacrificed herself for an innocent. Her last moments were as a warrior of Good, and no concession was made."  
  
  
"You were given Holtz for the child and Darla!" Seraph argued. "He hunts our warrior even as we sit and debate."  
  
  
"He was and still is a warrior of Good," Seraph argued. "The ancient charters base Good and Evil on intent rather than by drive. Hunting Vampires was defined as noble by the ancients for the sake of the Slayer. Holtz does the same. He is Good."  
  
  
"He is driven by revenge. That is later defined as ignoble in those same charters," Seraph responded.   
  
  
"True as well," the Keeper agreed.   
  
  
"Holtz was judged to be a warrior of Good back when he hunted Angelus," Belial reminded the Keeper.  
  
  
"That was a lifetime ago!"  
  
  
"Not by definition. He was put to sleep until the present day. This in all actuality, is his same life. He shouldn't be re-judged for sleeping, should he?"   
  
  
"But it denotes a change of character, which can repeal the initial ruling."  
  
  
"What change in initial character? He still hunts vampires."  
  
  
"You know as well as I, Belial, that he has become embittered. The name of the battle is no longer the same."  
  
  
They both turned to the Keeper. "Your ruling, Your Honor. It seems we've reached a snag on interpretation of the ancient's texts."   
  
  
The Keeper leaned back in his great chair, a storm of lightning thought clouding behind his eyes. Both spokesmen provided an excellent argument. After a long while, he took a breath and spoke. "Say I concede to your point of Holtz as a warrior of Evil now, Seraph. You still destroyed Darla AND gained the child, Connor. Two for one is not fair, and as Keeper of the Balance, I demand to know what concessions might have been made to Evil on this recent loss."  
  
  
Seraph looked flustered. "Well, the Slayer's Watcher has left, and her mother was killed. That can make up for the child."  
  
  
"She no longer needs either of them as she used to," Belial countered. "The mother was not a warrior, so her death cannot be counted against us. And the Watcher still lives, and continues work against evil where he currently resides. It cannot possibly count."   
  
  
Seraph racked his brain. "I um... well, I suppose you're right in that." He sighed. "Very well, Good concedes Case Two, Your Honor."  
  
  
"Cast Two has been decided, then. Belial, anything else?"  
  
  
"Yes, Your Honor, Evil's last case. Case Three..." he paused in speech to motion towards the chart. The picture of Darla evaporated and in its place, the face of Spike appeared.   
  
  
"William the Bloody," the Keeper acknowledged. "He was not cursed with a soul."  
  
  
"Which begs the argument," Belial agreed. "Why has he become an implement of Good?"  
  
  
"He still claims to be evil," Keeper stated.  
  
  
"The scales were visited. His love was deemed pure by the Fates. He has turned away from his true nature. My argument is that by definition of his creature he is not allowed to fight for Good. We demand payment. He was a promising warrior for Evil. Though Evil would prefer to have Angelus returned to them, the return of The Bloody will sate their distresses as well."  
  
  
"You were given payment when his path diverged!" Seraph argued.   
  
  
"How so?" Keeper asked, curious.  
  
  
Seraph snapped his fingers and another image appeared before the court's eyes, of Doyle, as he jumped into a blinding portal and disappeared in a flash of light. "Good gave a seer, a powerful force of the white army about the time the portents pointed to the change in William."  
  
  
"Still unfair," Belial shot back. "You lost and then gained, which nullified your payment. We simply lost."  
  
  
"I still don't understand how William was changed at all," the Keeper muttered, fascinated now.  
  
  
Both spokesmen shrugged helplessly. "Something beyond all jurisdiction we have, apparently. Perhaps the ancients are showing their hand again after millennia of inactiveness. No readings from either the Oracles or the Fates have been able to determine the exact nature of that one."  
  
  
"I see. And I tend to agree with Belial on this one, Seraph. Your side's concession in the wake of William's nature, painful as it may have been, still resulted in a loss for Evil."  
  
  
Seraph was slightly flustered. "The seed of wickedness was planted, stronger in William than the seed of good. He has no soul but he has a demon. He should have chosen the dark by all signs, by all definition. We could not possibly have predicted that the scrap of goodness retained from his human life would win out over the demon itself. I feel this case falls into the jurisdiction of free choice. And we cannot interfere."  
  
  
It was a weak argument on Seraph's part, and he knew it. He quickly moved to say something else. Anything else. "He has more than a century of wrong doings and wickedness behind him, Your Honor. We have barely had him for two years now. And even still, by all definition, the chip in his head is the only true thing holding him back. That was done by man, and cannot be fixed by either side."  
  
  
"The readings all said that he had changed to the side of Good, Seraph," the Keeper reminded. "The scales were visited. The Fates consulted. Do you attempt to nullify their jurisdiction?"   
  
  
"The Fates or not, everything they tell us defies convention and..."  
  
  
"I agree that William is a very odd case, however I am of the opinion that that he is a special vampire. Not to mention, acceptations should be made if we suspect the ancients are showing an interest in this one after such a long time lying dormant. If they think he should be good, we as lower beings, most certainly cannot argue."  
  
  
"Just because he is a special vampire doesn't mean that we need go around the rules for him," Seraph argued. "He is still, by blatant definition, Evil. He is forced to do good because of man's technology. Surely he cannot be counted as one of our warriors in that case?"  
  
  
Keeper shook his head. "I believe it would only be fair to judge a special case as he is, on a special basis, Seraph. He will be defined as a warrior of Good in this court until he proves he is again evil, or the Fates refute their earlier diagnosis and dictate that the love he has in his heart is false."   
  
  
Seraph frowned. He had hoped that in defining Spike as evil, he would balance the scale in the court's eyes without actually having to relinquish the paradoxical vampire's skills in the fight for Good. He sighed, sadly. "Very well then. Case Three conceded to Evil, Your Honor."  
  
  
"There we have it then. The three arguments have been decided, and Evil wins, two to one."  
  
  
There was another rush of murmur amongst the representatives seated in the house. A cheering on the right side of the council room and a muttering on the left. The Keeper banged his gavel irately. "Order! Order, and I will make the final judgment."  
  
  
It was instantly silent, as each side waited with baited breath on what today's argument had truly resulted in. The Keeper could be mysterious at times, after all.   
  
  
The Keeper thought for a moment once silence had descended again. He began slowly. "It is in my opinion that the seed of evil shall be planted within one of Good's warriors. Considering the power of Darla, Angelus, and Spike, I am forced to agree that it should be a powerful warrior to make up for the loss. Perhaps not as powerful as the Slayer..."  
  
  
Seraph drooped with relief. The next Slayer going to dark might have been disastrous.   
  
  
After another moment the Keeper leaned forward in his gold chair. "Very well, the terms have been decided by me. The seed of evil shall be planted within the Witch. The more powerful one, Miss Rosenburg. She will be tempted by Evil. The only interference from Good will be through her friends, and by the clause concerning the will of man in the ancients' texts, that means no direct intervention. I think it will be fair that the choice be left to her."  
  
  
Belial made as if to protest the unfairness of a concession that was not guaranteed.   
  
  
The Keeper held up a hand to stop him. "It is of my opinion that Good did make SOME payments on behalf of the three vampires they took, however inadequate they might be now. You will receive compensation for this, but only to the amount I see fit, deducting Seraph's arguments regarding payment from the amount I would have been willing to give you had there been no concessions at all on Good's part."  
  
  
Belial looked as if he was going to speak, but the Keeper pushed on.  
  
  
" I am an old man, Belial, and I have seen many a thing the will of man can do, despite our best efforts. The seed WILL be planted, and Evil will be strong in its pull of her. But ultimately, the final choice will be hers. You have been given this concession, for the wickedness in her before had been small compared to what we are allowing you to tempt her with now. Be satisfied with that."  
  
  
Both councilors bowed their heads slightly to the greater authority and let him finish the ruling. The Keeper had decided.   
  
  
"So be it. By my ruling, as the Keeper of the Balance, I dictate that Evil is to be given the opportunity to woo Willow Rosenburg into becoming one of their warriors to make up for the weak payment attempted earlier by Good in regarding the three vampires presented in chamber today. Evil will be given monopoly of the girl until she decides which path by her own will. Good is not permitted to interfere directly. That is my ruling, and it is final. This meeting is adjourned." He banged his gavel in finality.   
  
  
The debate thus ended in a puff of smoke.   
  
  
  
END   
Yeah yeah, I know, it was boring. But I just couldn't help myself. 


End file.
